Whether you’re staying for one night or one week, these 11 things will help you make the most of your hotel stay, and ensure you have an enjoyable and safe time.
1. Ask for an upgrade
There’s not a lot you can’t get with a polite greeting and a warm smile. When you arrive, check in as you normally would, then simply ask, “Do you have an upgrade available?” They will either have one or not, but at least you tried.
2. Ask for a better rate
If you’re unsuccessful with the upgrade, you can always try for a better rate. Simply ask whether there might be any discounts that you missed when you made your reservation. If you get lucky with an upgrade, you won’t need to take this step. In fact, you’ll want to avoid mentioning room rates altogether.
3. Treat the staff like people
Hotel staff know it’s your holiday, but they want to be treated like people too, and they will go the extra mile to fulfil your request if they feel that they’re being shown respect and kindness.
4. Keep your valuables safe
You might be on holidays, but thieves are not. Your valuables should be the first things you carry with you for your entire stay. It’s not worth the risk of leaving them in your hotel room and thinking they’ll be safe.Or you could use the secure room safe if one is provided.
5. Be savvy about your information
There have been cases where scammers have called guests in their hotel rooms, pretending to be the front desk and asked guests to verify their credit card information. Avoid giving out personal information over the phone, informing the front desk attendant that you prefer to give them the information in person.
6. Don’t trust wifi
While we’re on the subject of security, avoid doing any banking over wifi. It’s easy for scammers to create a free network and then steal your information once you’re connected. If you must do a bank transfer, confirm the hotel’s wifi name with staff, but it’s preferable to use an ATM.
7. Be grateful for any freebies
It’s bad taste to complain about anything that you receive for free, so if the wifi is slow or your access to the hotel’s movie channel is dodgy, by all means enquire if staff can do anything, but don’t make a fuss.
8. Check the beds
Just because it looks clean it doesn’t mean it is. A hundred or more people have used that room before you, and the whole bedbug issue should have you pulling back the covers in every hotel room you visit.
9. Know where the exits are
No one plans on using the emergency exists on their holiday, but all the same it, pays to know where you’re running to in the middle of the night if the building needs evacuating.
10. Tips keep staff happy
Tipping isn’t a courtesy that needs to be saved for overseas trips only. The attendant parking your car, the waiter delivering your room service and the person who brought you that extra towel all deserve a little something extra to show you appreciate their work.
11. Don’t use a bad review to threaten staff
You might be exhausted from travelling, hungry, or angry about having no hot water, but threatening staff with a bad review on Trip Advisor will get you nothing but resentment. There is barely any connection between hotels and reviewing websites, so if you have a complaint, do tell the front desk clerk about it and ask them to rectify the situation, but don’t wait until check out to complain with the hope you’ll be compensated.
Do you have any tips of your own for having a great hotel stay? Why not share them?
